Saturday, December 24, 2011

Here is Peach & Blue on it's box. I found the perfect Mill Hill Glass Seed Beads & got them on yesterday. I added a few more than called for, specifically in the very center. This pretty box goes to it's intended recipient this afternoon!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Here we are in our Reno house! Christmas is fast approaching & I just finished this last night - it is the last of the stitched gifts. Yay!! It still needs a few beads,but if I can't get them in time it will be fine without the beads. This will be a top for a brown Betsy Box.

This is a Rainbow Gallery freebie by June Moes, called "Peach and Blue". Well, I changed everything! Not just the colors this time. I used Leventine Blue canvas (instead of white) and changed all the threads & colors, AND "adjusted" a few of the stitches! But I was able to stitch this completely from stash!

I used 2 Watercolours 018 and 189 (instead of Bravo), Frosty Rays Y045 (instead of Flair), #8 perle 3560 & 807(instead of Pebbly Perle), and #8 Kreinik 273 which wasn't called for at all. Because my threads are mostly heavier than those that were called for, I had to make some adjustments to some of the stitches. The biggest change was to the outer border, The design called for alternating the Scotch stitches with a cross stitch variation. I didn't care for the way it looked, so I just did alternating Scotches instead. I really like the way it looks that way!﻿

Saturday, December 17, 2011

This is the last of the small squares. It is about an inch larger than the ones I've been doing. I couldn't quickly find a pattern the right size, so I used a small version of my Interactive Ribbons pattern. I'm very pleased with the result! I haven't fastened it down yet, so it needs to be adjusted a little inside the frame so there aren't any bits of canvas showing.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Here are some of my finished little door hangers. They are just right to hang on a door knob. The fabric "frames" are prefinished items that I got at my LNS. All you do is stick in the finished needlework & then I use a little Stitch Witchery to make sure the edges of the fabric stay down. Takes just a few minutes with a steam iron & you're done!

The bottom right one is a cross stitch that I did several years ago. Turns out it fit just right in the brown fabric frame & will make a perfect gift for a friend. The other three, also gifts, you have seen before being "finished".

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Here's another of the little squares I did for Christmas gifts. I finished this several weeks ago, but couldn't show it to you because the intended recipient watches Blog closely!

The pattern is by Pine Glen Designs and is a cross stitch pattern. I should have done it in cross stitch! There are a lot of partial stitches and that makes adapting it to needlepoint difficult. I would have been better off if I had studied the photo more, rather than sticking to the chart! I used Alpaca AL51 & AL64 and Watercolours 165 & 171 for the cats. The background is a mix of #5 perle cotton and Watercolours 067. The metallic dark green is FyreWerks FT27. To make the stitching go faster, I used Mosaic in the center square and 3 sizes of Scotch till it was the right size.

The adaptation isn't perfect, but I think it turned out cute nonetheless! Here it is all made up. My friend loved it!

Friday, December 9, 2011

﻿Mystery #2 is finished and this may be the last of the squares. I'm not sure, maybe one more.

Laura did this mystery in 2 installments and there were more decision points than the first one. I elected to do two rows of the "checkerboard" and added a 2nd border so that it would finish up to be the size I wanted. Pretty huh?

Monday, December 5, 2011

Finished another one! This one is adapted from a Teresa Wentzler cross stitch design in her Best of Teresa Wentzler Christmas Collection﻿. It was harder to adapt than I expected due to using 18-count canvas instead of one of the fabrics. I had to do some careful counting & adjusting! But it turned out pretty I think. I used 3 #12 Kreinik braids, 002, 153V and 018HL plus Rainbow Tweed RT61 for the overdye. When I get this one and a couple others all mounted & ready to go, I'll post another photo.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

I have decided to stitch up a few small pieces to be finished as little hanging things for Xmas gifts. Color Delights--Ice is my 3rd finish. The first 2 are the Laura Perin Mystery and the Kitty in the Stocking (which I am keeping for myself!). I have about 6 more kitted up!

This pretty piece is 4"x4". Naturally I changed the colors! I used Watercolours and Waterlilies in #034, Impressions 2039, Neon Rays Plus NF62 and Watercolours 116. This one took a little longer than some as there are a lot of Tent stitches. Below is my finished version.

I will show it again when it is made up - but that will not be till after Christmas. This particular one, I was unable to find a prefinished gizmo in these colors, and I know I have just the right fabric up in my Reno house. I'll raid that stash when we are up there over the Holidays.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Oh Boy! The third quadrant of Twister is finished! Only one more quadrant and it will be over. I will not be able to finish it by the end of the year as I had hoped, but it shouldn't be much after that!

Twister is really a fun project, but HUGE. If I were to do it again (bite your tongue Liz!) I would change the colors, probably add some metallic & overdyes.

To any of you that are planning to stitch Twister, I recommend basting in the outlines of the areas first. I did not draw anything on the canvas except the vertical & horizontal center lines & I wish I had basted those instead. Here is what the whole thing looks like now:

About Me

I am an avid needlepointer. I have had designs published in Needlepoint Now. I am always working on new designs to sell and online classes to teach. Please visit my website at www.lizartneedlepoint.com. The only thing I like to do as much as stitch is dance! My husband and I are ballroom & WCS dancers.